OPINION OF THE DAY
Digital Diplomacy and Philippines-China Relations
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Digital Diplomacy and Philippines-China Relations
Philippine Ambassador to China Jaime FlorCruz has recently taken to social media to promote the spirit of cooperation and friendship between Manila and Beijing.
This is an innovative diplomatic strategy that leverages his unique background as a veteran journalist in China and his intimate knowledge of the country’s hard‑won accomplishments over the past decades. FlorCruz’s digital diplomacy illustrates how media skills can be harnessed to advance foreign policy objectives in an era when public opinion is shaped as much by online narratives as by official communiqués.
FlorCruz’s messaging appears guided by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fundamental proposition:...
VP Sara Duterte Defense Uses Technicality to get her off the hook
This fourth day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is revelatory. What the defense and their political allies want to achieve...
The Sara Duterte Threat Video is an Instructive Case in Handling PR Crises
What destroyed Sara Duterte was not merely a threat—it was a communications failure
Incoming AFP Chief will inherit the wars of Tomorrow
On July 21, when Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. steps down as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the country...
The Philippines’ Past Revisited and Continuing Past: Usable History in Today’s Philippines
Renato Constantino’s A Past Revisited and The Continuing Past remain profoundly relevant in illuminating the Philippines’ present political turbulence marked by the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, the collapse of the Marcos–Duterte alliance, and violent upheaval within the Senate. These developments have not only revived anxieties over institutional fragility that Constantino already analyzed during his time but also sharpened dynastic rivalries as the nation looks ahead to the 2028 presidential elections.
Who’s Really Raising Fuel Prices? Filipinos Deserve the Truth. Pinagloloko nyo kami!
Global oil markets have largely calmed.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has recovered after fears that the Iran-Israel conflict and subsequent U.S. military involvement...
Why People Power in the Philippines Wither: The Politics of Corruption Under Marcos Jr.
Corruption has long haunted Philippine politics. From Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s authoritarian plunder to post-EDSA (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue) administrations that promised reform but often faltered, graft has remained deeply entrenched.
Why are we still a broken Nation?
Why are we still broken as a nation? A foreign friend once told me that in his country, if events involving large-scale plunder of public funds occurred, the culprits would either commit hara-kiri or face life imprisonment. But here, we lost two trillion pesos after fifteen or more contractor companies, an unknown number of legislators, and a large, organized syndicate of DPWH officials conspired to amass a staggering amount of public money.
Why the White Ribbon March Was’nt Bigger–and What It Says About Us, Filipinos
Political scientists have long argued that protests alone rarely transform political systems. Charles Tilly, Sidney Tarrow, and Doug McAdam observed that demonstrations become effective only when they are part of broader political opportunities, sustained organization, and institutional pressure. More recently, Erica Chenoweth's extensive research on civil resistance found that successful movements require persistent participation, strategic organization, and the ability to shift the loyalties of institutions—not merely symbolic marches.
Tacloban School Shooting: The Problem Isn’t Video Games–It’s the Society We Built
The Philippines has once again responded to a tragedy involving young people with a familiar reflex: panic first, think later.
Following the shooting involving students in Tacloban, attention has quickly shifted toward online games, social media, and a proposed Senate inquiry. The implication is clear.
Somewhere inside a computer screen lies the explanation for why young Filipinos would commit violence against one another.
It is a comforting theory.
It is also probably the wrong one.
Gatchalian formally ascends Senate President-ship; Cayetano bloc retreats
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano’s concession that Senator Sherwin Gatchalian’s camp had already secured the numbers necessary to take the Senate presidency was an acknowledgment of political reality, not necessarily the end of his faction’s influence. Faced with an inevitable defeat, Cayetano stepped away from the highest seat in the chamber. But his departure came with a telling condition: his allies must retain control of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee — the chamber’s most potent instrument of investigation and political pressure. ([Inquirer.net][1])